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New metric system: Inches, feet, and Altuves.

This chair was labeled “Altuve 27.”

When you have to deal with pranks from your teammates practically on a daily basis, you’re going to go in one of two directions: you’re either going to get tired of the jokes, or you’re going to laugh along with everyone else.

Fortunately, Jose Altuve, who also answers to “Mighty Mouse,” “Little Man” and “Toovie,” can find find humor in the joke, even if he’s the constant subject of the ribbing.

At some point in his professional career, Altuve’s height was recorded as five feet, seven inches. That was eventually deemed inaccurate. The second baseman, 22, is all of five feet, five inches, making him one of the youngest, and the shortest, players in the big leagues.

He’s also maintaining a better-than-.300 batting average, is the early favorite to represent the Astros at the All-Star Game and is proving to be a very sound defensive player. In other words, life is good for the diminutive Altuve, even when his teammates purposely raise their hands above their heads during post-win high-fives so that he has to jump up.

Altuve’s height and baseball acumen have made him a fan favorite in Houston. One fan has gone as far as to create a new measuring system, “How Many Altuves?” In this blog, Bryan Trostel offers a simple metric converter that will convert feet into Altuves.

For example, if it’s 300 feet from your front door to the mailbox, exactly how many Altuves would that be?

Congrats to Double-A Corpus Christi first baseman Jon Singleton, who was named Texas League Player of the Week. He hit four homers in six games and finished the week with 12 hits in 24 at-bats with a double, eight runs scored and 12 RBIs.

Singleton had at least one hit in all six games he played, including four multi-hit games. For the season, he ranks first in the Texas League in runs scored with 35, third in RBI with 35, third in OBP at .418 and third in OPS at .981. He is tied for fourth in average at .317.

In 47 games this year, Singleton has nine homers, 10 doubles and a pair of triples.

5 Comments

The students at MIT did the same thing in 1958 after a guy named George Smoot. They measured a bridge near MIT in Smoots and it gets repainted every year by freshman. The police have even asked that the tradition continue because they have come to use the marks as actual landmarks.

Alyson,
The jokes and wisecracks I heard from people sitting next to me at a game against Detroit in Spring Training that were non stop about Jose’s size were enough for me to cheer him on and be a believer in him….He showed them though— he had a very good game, making nice plays at second and going 2 for 4 — If I recall correctly. Look at his season—- he may make the All Stars!
He proves its not size only that counts. He has a Huge Heart and Desire to Succeed that gets him where he needs to be. Thanks, Bob Droubi

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